Microsoft - Ties me to a platform, Outlook account deleted after a year of inactivity (What if I die or I get in a legal mess? My family doesn't know how to get accounts and data from it) , more than likely also profiles you and your data.

Buying a domain and rolling my own - I do one thing wrong. ONE. My domain is blacklisted as a spam address...or worse....plus...my family does not know how to maintain the server or get data from it in case of emergency.

The little guys - Fastmail, Countermail, etc. They can disappear tomorrow like lavabit. Not a very good longterm solution.

I can't just "pick a platform and go with it". I use OS X, I use Windows, Linux, etc. I just want a neutral and stable platform that's going to be around for a while.

I'm really thinking Google is my only option here. Am I boned?

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Roger H. 773

I don't think if you have your own domain it would get blacklisted that easily and there are options for that as well. I use Office 365 for my "work" stuff but my personal has been on Live.com/Outlook.com for years now. Not that I need more and barely anyone emails me anymore anyways.

I'd do my own Exchange Server but as mentioned the costs don't justify it right now because I don't get enough usage of email to make it worth it, that applies to "work" stuff as well.

Microsoft - Ties me to a platform, Outlook account deleted after a year of inactivity (What if I die or I get in a legal mess? My family doesn't know how to get accounts and data from it) , more than likely also profiles you and your data.

Not really. The android app is good for Outlook. And seriously that's what you thought about when you look for an E-Mail. Document it WELL!! For that case.

Again. Not really. You can access this on a myriad of devices. Web iCloud works well on any platform you choose, Windows Linux etc.

Yahoo - Might as well buy a stone tablet and chisel words into it

Its actually one of their most popular products.

.

AOL - LOL! They are still around?

No Idea

Buying a domain and rolling my own - I do one thing wrong. ONE. My domain is blacklisted as a spam address...or worse....plus...my family does not know how to maintain the server or get data from it in case of emergency.

Is that what you think about? really? Document it. Buy a domain WITH E-Mail on it from say 123Reg as an example. I only say this because I use them.

The little guys - Fastmail, Countermail, etc. They can disappear tomorrow like lavabit. Not a very good longterm solution.

Don't know about these guys but they probably have a passionate team behind it.

......freeukmail.net This was set up as a project of someone I know. Try that?

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ajua 61

Outlook.com is the most supported for multi-platform if that's what the OP is after. From the web client to the mobile apps, it works really well.

I use it with my own domain but I don't know if the date limit for that feature has passed or not because Microsoft was migrating it for Office 365 for Business only. I think it's already due but I'm not sure. In any case, getting a domain and adding it to Outlook.com as a secondary works too.

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Shadrack 601

Shadrack 601

iCloud is not tied to iOS devices. Email can be accessed via IMAP, Calendar and Tasks via CardDAV, and Contacts via CalDAV. IMAP Push is supported, but not necessarily working on every platform at the moment.

In fact, Windows Phone 8.1 has "iCloud" account as an option for syncing with. The only platform that isn't supported well is Android, and that is because Google doesn't support the open CardDAV and CalDAV standards out-of-the-box (but can be added via 3rd party apps, I hear). Google is walking away from open standards in general (Gmail API, anyone?) , so I would not recommend using them as a cross-platform solution.

iCloud also works well with Outlook for Windows so long as you use the iCloud Windows Control Panel that Apple provides for syncing.

Outlook.com Contacts and Calendar syncing will not work on Mac (even Outlook 2011 for Mac doesn't properly support it). On platforms that support Exchange Activesync, it isn't as much of an issue. Outlook.com is probably the best "mobile" solution (as it supports PUSH across the board because of Activesync), but what kept me from using it was the lack of support on Mac.

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rfirth 721

Microsoft - Ties me to a platform, Outlook account deleted after a year of inactivity (What if I die or I get in a legal mess? My family doesn't know how to get accounts and data from it) , more than likely also profiles you and your data.

That's explicitly forbidden in their Terms of Service. They don't mine your email. This is their biggest anti-Google talking point, so it's not likely to change.

And it doesn't tie you to a platform.

Question: If I create an Outlook.com account and sync it with Outlook on the desktop will it automatically pull down my calendars and contacts?

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Zlain 70

You go online and your privacy is at risk. It makes next to no difference whether you use MS, google, Apple or whatever. They'll all collect some form of data, I can guarantee you that. I only use gmail because I don't like the outlook interface. Its not always obvious where to click things for me. I like the simple layout of gmail. Some people still do use yahoo.

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Anibal P 2,005

Since you have an irrational paranoia to a free service mining keywords to show you ads the only real option is to run your own mail server on your own domain, NO free service will ever give 100% "privacy" or "anonymity"

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primexx 372

primexx 372

Even if you use a hosted email service, if you're capable of using your own domain that is obviously the way to go. This way it decouples your email address from the actual email service that you use. Got problems with Google? Change your MX records and move to Microsoft. Same email address, completely transparent to all your contacts.

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InsaneNutter 922

InsaneNutter 922

Even if you use a hosted email service, if you're capable of using your own domain that is obviously the way to go. This way it decouples your email address from the actual email service that you use. Got problems with Google? Change your MX records and move to Microsoft. Same email address, completely transparent to all your contacts.

Exactly what i was going to say, probably the best advice you will get.

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ViperAFK 780

ViperAFK 780

For a paid service I've been enjoying fastmail.fm. Not very expensive (40 dollars a year for the enhanced account), some of the best IMAP service I've used, and the web interface is also very clean and fast. Its also got CalDav with Carddav coming in the near future for calendar/contacts sync. Plenty of advanced features and options as well.

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Obry 269

Obry 269

I use Outlook as well. Was a Google user but have grown to personally hate them as a company. I use Office 365 for work and Outlook for personal email. Never had a problem with either and they work just fine on iOS, OS X and Android. You can either use the native apps or the Outlook app available for all platforms which is actually quite nice. I don't think Microsoft profiles you that much as you say they do - Google - more likely but I still don't think it is as extreme.

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+Kyle 86

I use Google Apps. I have a few of my customers on it and it works well. I managed to snag a free account when they had them back in 09. It works extremely well and if they want to read my grandmother's "am I on the bank website right now?" emails then I don't really care.

If you care that much about privacy look for a Swiss server, roll your own and leave the details for emergency access in your will.

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+warwagon 9,571

I don't know what it is about Outlook.com's 2 factor authentication setup, just really don't like it.

I recently helped someone sign into a Microsoft account on their Windows 8 machine. She used her existing live email account the one she had setup in mail. Upon signing into it for a Microsoft account on 8 it asked her to verify her account using an email address on file that she no longer had. It was quiet the pain the ass to say the least.

So we had to create a gmail account and use that to authentication the account which then would take 30 days before she could add another authentication method 2 her account.

I don't know what it is about gmail that makes everything just feels simpler.

What doesn't make any sense, is that Microsoft was forcing us to verify the account. But then at the same time accepted a email address we just created to verify the account and also put in a request to change the security info.

Sure it asked us every time we logged in if we were the ones that did that, but what if someone got your user name and password and you didn't log into your account for 30 days. They could have also done this.